It's the night of my move to Canada. I'm back in my city. I'm driving to my new house, someplace I've never seen or visited, much too late, in the dark and the rain with a car loaded full of my stuff. Somewhere out there is a house with three roommates who've promised to help me move it all in.

I'm numbly tired; up at 4 am, traveling for 13-plus hours, worn from the stress of the border crossing. The intersections slide past: Jarvis. Church. Yonge. Bay. Avenue. Spadina.

Yesterday was a send-off day, courtesy of my church family. Ian, my pastor, invited me up to say a few words and then to be prayed for. Afterward was a surprise goodbye party, complete with goofy t-shirts with an embarrassing photo on the front and a list of "10 things we like about Susanna" on the back. The outpouring of love was really touching, and surprising. It's funny how lonely and unnoticed you can feel, and then in moments of grace be reminded of how many people love you.

It was not only touching, but puts closure on the time I've spent here. There's something right, and satisfying, about going off with the love and support of the people you're leaving behind.

This week is finally serious packing time, with today being spent putting things away in boxes and cases and pulling out bagfuls of stuff for Goodwill. It's not like I have a lot of possessions—years of moving have kept me a transient minimalist—but there are always a few things you realize aren't worth the trouble to haul along.

I feel oddly calm and at peace, and even looking forward to the move. Who knows what lies ahead...one thing I know, or at least hope, is that it can't be worse than what lies behind, and might be better. At any rate, it'll be a new adventure. Nothing bad about that.

Today I went to Boston for what will probably be the last time during my time living here. I met my friend Gabi and we walked and talked and I gave her a lens to return to a mutual friend and she gave me some prints of her photos and we sat outside the Boston Public Library and sipped tea from an expensive cafe. I was too tired to do much more than listen to her talk. We people-watched as she chatted to me about her photography course and all that she's learning, and I realized again how much I miss living in the city.

Tonight as I was on my cooldown walk from a few miles' run, on a fairly deserted back road near home a car drove past slowly with the window down, the baseball-hatted male driver leaning out the window to make kissing sounds. Very annoying, but nothing that hasn't happened before. However, a few minutes later I heard a car and saw its headlights as it drove up behind me. For some reason, I thought it might be him again, and sure enough, it was. He'd pulled around the loop to drive past me again.